The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Issue date: 4/17/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Courtesy of Ketul Popat CSU researches are developing nanotubes supported by a scaffold surgically implanted into bone marrow. These release chemotherapy drugs directly into cancerous areas in the marrow, sparing surrounding non-cancerous cells.

A CSU professor and a team of students are developing a new system of delivering chemotherapy drugs directly to affected sites in leukemia patients using nanotechnology.

The team of CSU and Pennsylvania State University scientists and researchers, who spent the last year cultivating the idea and furthering testing, said the new treatment method will sufficiently target the cancer while eliminating common symptoms of regular chemotherapy such as hair loss.

"I know it's a popular research subject because if you can get this to work you can cure a lot of types of different cancer," said Derek Carroll, a junior mechanical engineer, who works on the project.

In theory a doctor would surgically implant hundreds of scaffolds, tiny support structures, into a patient's bone marrow. Each of the scaffolds house a nanotube filled with chemotherapy drugs, which are then diffused into the marrow.

"Basically the nanotubes would act as test tubes so we can put the (chemotherapy) drugs in them and insert them inside the body," said research team leader Ketul Popat, an assistant CSU mechanical engineering professor. "Then the drug is released when it is supposed to be and there will be no side effects."

The goal is that a person would not experience the joint pain, nausea, blood clots, glaucoma, taste changes and dozens more side effects normally associated with chemotherapy treatment, a process in which drugs are administered to a person's entire body.

"Let's say your cancer is in your left leg, the chemo will get to your left leg but it will also affect your kidneys, nerves, and liver because it will spread," he said. "When the drugs are administered locally, through the use of nanotubes, the chemo drug is only delivered to the spot that you need it so the concentration is high enough to kill the cancer, and the amount (of drugs) needed is much less."

Because the nanotube is made of titanium, Popat said, it does not cause any harm to the body if left in place.

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